BY ACHOR ABIMAJE, Jos; AZA MSUE, Kaduna; AHMED TAHIR, Lafia; BABAJI USMAN BABAJI, Gombe; ATTAH ANTHONY, Jalingo, NONYE EKWENUGO, Kaduna and KABIR WURMA, Birnin Kebbi
Amidst fears over the safety of schoolchildren across Northern Nigeria as schools prepare to reopen tomorrow, and a fresh diphtheria outbreak claiming lives in Plateau, new cases confirmed in Nasarawa and the disease continuing to pose a major public health challenge, Kaduna, Taraba and Gombe state governments have dismissed outright thoughts of shutting down schools.
The growing concern came as parents prepare to send their children back to classrooms, with questions mounting over vaccination coverage, disease surveillance and the preparedness of schools and health authorities to prevent spread of the deadly infection among pupils and students.
In Plateau State alone, health authorities said 23 people had died from suspected diphtheria in the two weeks preceding September 1, with 143 suspected cases recorded.
The zonal coordinator, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Mr Steve Aluko, said if the closure was for public interest and temporary, it was a welcome development, but insisted that it was not a lasting solution.
He said, “If the state government has not make any contingency arrangement for now, closing schools on the temporary measures is very important but should not be necessarily prolonged so that it will not affect the school calendars.”
According to him, it is expected that within the next one week, adequate arrangements would be made to combat the disease by creating awareness and educating people so that it would not spread beyond control.
Aluko explained that the interest should not be focused only on schools, adding that while keeping the children at home, they should not also be left in a quagmire.
Also speaking, the Ada-Idoma of Jos South LGA, Chief Edwin Ochayi Ojih, described the situation as very unfortunate.
According to him, while the children stay at home, the state government should set machinery in motion with a view to combating the disease.
“It is not only about closing of schools alone, they should equally deploy available resources to nip it in the bud. The state Ministry of Health should rise up to the occasion and ensure they combat the disease within a short period so that children can go back to school.
“They should do everything humanely possible not to allow children to stay too long at home like what happened during the period of COVID-19 where over one year is wasted at home,” he advised.
Miss Serah Johnson, a JSS 1 student, lamented the order by the state government to close schools at a time when most schools are resuming from the long vacation.
She urged governments at all levels to put adequate measures in place to ensure the disease was contained as quickly as possible.
We Are Worried – Parents
For parents, the issue is no longer simply whether schools will open tomorrow, but whether children are adequately protected when they get there.
A parent in Niger State, Mallam Isah Hassan, told our correspondent the latest developments had created anxiety in the family ahead of resumption.
In Niger, another parent said the confirmation of cases involving children was particularly disturbing because of the proximity of schools to the affected communities.
A Kano parent, recalling the state’s prolonged experience with diphtheria, said parents needed more than assurances from authorities as children returned to school.
